Support for Communities

We strive to enrich the quality of life for those within our reach. BCWM provides WKU undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to enrich the lives of immigrants through music. The WKU faculty, WKU students, young adult volunteers, and ESL students from Congo, Guatemala, Mexico, Nepal, Somalia, and Tanzania form long-term relationships through the private lessons
and group classes.

This project seeks to empower some of the most marginalized people in our community through the medium of musical arts by helping the people develop connections, facilitating their personal growth, and creating opportunities for them to join
in the community.

We support our community by providing violin lessons and classes:

1.     Frequent and regular private lessons and group classes enable ESL students to grow in their musical abilities. These lessons also help them to gain confidence, build social skills, and create interaction with their peers in a safe social environment.

2.     WKU Pedagogy students teach the classes, not only giving them hands-on teaching experience, but allowing them to interact with international/refugee students through music.

3.     WKU Pre-College Strings students assist the teachers in the classes, observing and joining in where appropriate. Studies indicate that students who teach develop a greater knowledge of the subject matter, become better learners themselves, and develop more effective communication skills.

In the United States today we have a great need to understand our immigrant populations. And we need the immigrant populations to join in our society. BCWM provides an enormous opportunity to meet these needs. It involves age groups from pre-college teenagers and their parents to college students, professors, high-school teachers, ESL students and their parents, and the community at large.

The coupling of WKU student teachers with ESL students gives the students the opportunity to socialize, to establish relationships, and to develop the discipline and confidence that results from studying and playing musical instruments. As the refugees in our community join in musically and socially, they become part of an inspiring and magical process in which we all learn from each other.